March

Angela A. Stevens v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, dba State Farm Insurance, and aka Frontier Division of the State Farm Fire & Casualty Company of Bloomington, Illinois, 2014CV030309 was tried in Larimer County District Court by Franklin D. Patterson and Lindsay M. Dunn. This case arose from a MVA when the at-fault driver failed to yield while turning, resulting in a T-Bone collision, which resulted in Plaintiff settling liability claims at $50,000 limits. She demanded UIM limits, and State Farm concluded she had been adequately compensated by the BI limits.

Plaintiff brought 3 claims for relief: willful and wanton breach of contract, unreasonable delay/denial, and bad faith. State Farm denied it acted improperly, and asserted an affirmative defense of failure to cooperate. The failures to cooperate included failure to timely respond to State Farm’s requests for information, concealment of relevant and important records, and failure to produce authorizations to allow State Farm to obtain records. State Farm further contended Plaintiff’s treatment had been excessive and unreasonable, and that the great bulk of her medical complaints are due to pre-existing conditions or caused by other injury-producing incidents both before and after this incident. State Farm also contested the reasonableness and cost of the medical care Plaintiff received. In closing, Plaintiff’s attorney asked for $700,000 in non-economic and exacerbated disability damages.

VERDICT: For Defendant on all claims.

Defendant’s costs exceed $40,000. The jury verdict indicated Plaintiff’s total damages were $53,000 above the amount of the BI coverage. However, Plaintiff decided to pursue a willful and wanton breach of contract claim instead of a simple breach of contract claim. The jury was only instructed on the elements of willful and wanton breach and the verdict was returned in favor of Defendant.